Not applicable.
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device having an acoustic array, which device has utility in ultrasonic biomedical applications, particularly in the detection of breast cancer.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Current breast cancer screening techniques which rely on X-rays are painful to undergo and often ineffective for detecting early stages of cancer. Conventional ultrasound systems, i.e., hand-held linear b-scan arrays, are limited by the maximum allowable levels of exposure to the ultrasound set forth by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Ultrasound technology has been used in the medical field for many applications ranging from monitoring the heart condition of individuals to monitoring fetal development. There are a number of patents which illustrate various features of ultrasound equipment used in medical applications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,492 to Dubut illustrates a probe used in ultrasound apparatus. The probe is formed with a concave attack face using a continuous acoustic transition blade. The blade is metallized and is in common contact with all the front metallizations of a series of piezoelectric elements of the probe. The rear metallizations of the elements terminate electrically and independently backwards of the probe. The probe has utility in ultrasound experiments where good focusing is desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,993 to Hikita et al. relates to a piezoelectric transducer which converts electric signals into sound waves or other mechanical vibrations or converts mechanical vibrations into electric signals and which has utility in the transmission/reception of sound waves into/from the human body. The piezoelectric transducer has plural piezoelectric transducer elements which can generate mechanical vibrations converging substantially on one point. The transducer is formed to control the convergent point by insulating piezoelectric transducer elements mechanically, arranging them concentrically and driving them independently and separately from each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,863 to Hossack et al. relates to a phased array transducer for an ultrasonic imaging system. The transducer includes a flexible support element which supports an array of piezoelectric transducer elements. Shape transducers such as strain gauges or capacitive transducers are coupled to the support element to generate a signal indicative of the instantaneously prevailing curvature of the array. A user-controlled actuator is coupled to the support element to flex the support element between at least first and second configurations wherein the support element has separate curvatures along the axis of the transducer in each of the first and second configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,356 to Kruger relates to a photoacoustic breast scanner which uses incident electromagnetic waves to produce resultant acoustic waves. Multiple acoustic transducers are acoustically coupled to the surface of the tissue for measuring acoustic waves produced in the tissue when the tissue is exposed to a pulse of electromagnetic radiation. The multiple transducer signals are then combined to produce an image of the absorptivity of the tissue, which image may be used for medical diagnostic purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,752 to Spivey et al. relates to an acoustic imaging device. The devices consist of a ring of acoustic transducers which encircle a medium to be imaged. The medium is sequentially insonified by each transducer with subsequent reception of the scattered waves by the remaining transducers. The device may be used for imaging human tissue in vivo and in vitro.
The current invention describes a stationary array amenable to repetitive averaging of the ultrasonic field at lower intensity for longer periods.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device which may be used to screen human tissue for cancerous tissue.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device as above which has particular utility in the detection of breast cancer.
The foregoing objects are attained by the device of the present invention.
In accordance with the present invention, a device for detecting cancer in human tissue is provided. The device broadly comprises an acoustic array shaped to conform to and surround a portion of the human anatomy and means to acoustically couple the acoustic array to the portion of the human anatomy. The acoustic array is doubly curved having a first curvature along a first axis and a second curvature along a second axis perpendicular to said first axis.